One Last Chance
by jimmy143
Summary: As their final year of high school draws near, Tommy decides to make the most he can of these days by creating one last film with all his friends while juggling the difficulties of high school life and relationships. But as things begin to spiral out of control, can they really do this? One last time...


Hey again readers, my name is Charlie and welcome to my new fanfiction story that I have decided to work on as a summer project after finishing year 12. After finishing something like that you have a whole lot of emotions that you don't really know how to utilize and I felt like doing this could be good fun. Now while it may sound rather dramatic from the description, this is intended to be a rom com of sorts. I never like to write straight drama, I get bored after all. This story tells how I would imagine the final season of Rugrats all grown up to go, featuring a handful of arcs and plots all going at once with every chapter connected but structured in a similar way to the show. It's a little dramatic with more of a focus on romance than in any of my previous works but with that classic rugrats comedy. I adore All grown up and I feel like with its cancelation there was a lot left unsaid. This is my attempt to create some closure in a more structured and well-planned way than many of my previous fanfictions. Anyway let's jump into it!

Also let me say that this fanfiction is meant for all ages but as an adult I'll probably write as such and write for other adults, I don't plan on writing anything too heavy or intense or mature but there will be hints of that type of stuff. Also warning my spelling and punctuation is horrendous, I'm trying my best but I may slip up from time to time.

Character Ages:

Tommy – 18

Chuckie – 19

Phil & Lil – 18

Dil – 17

Kimi – 18

**One Last Chance**

By a dedicated fan with too much time on his hands…

Episode 1: The Thief

Part 1

"Deeeeed! It's happened again!" Stu shouted from the front lawn, Didi poked her head from the upstairs window, half blinded by the morning sun to see her husband, unshaven, wearing a purple dressing gown and slippers, holding a half empty cup of coffee that was spilling everywhere as he stomped his feet and paced around. The mailbox, or what used to be the mailbox. It had clearly been hit, extremely hard with most likely a bat of some sort, its frame was shattered, and its contents had been stolen.

"My inventors weekly! For a third week in a row! Why do they keep doing this!" He shouted. Along the street, similar commotions were happening. The Monday morning silence had been broken by countless middle-aged men emerging from their houses to find their mailbox smashed and contents stolen once again.

"Every Friday!" Stu growled, looking at the shattered box. His arms still flailing, coffee spilling across the lawn.

"Stu…it can't be helped, just go out tomorrow and buy a new box." Didi tried to reason with her fuming husband.

"Deed, this is about more than just ones mail, it's about respect, I can't just let this keep happening, I -jus-I can-" He seemed to lose the ability to string a sentence together as the rage bubbled up inside him. He paused for a second and let his eyes drift along the street, seeing his neighbors in a similar state of rage made him pause. He grinned.

"…Deed, fetch me the phone book please, I need to make some calls" He sipped at his mostly empty coffee cup as an idea sprouted in his mind. Tommy, still brushing his spikey hair back and hoisting on his bag passed his father, patting him on the back as he went.

Tommy was wearing a blue and white long sleeve shirt with the arms pushed back to his elbows with some bright blue, tightly fitting jeans and some black and white sneakers. His hair was moderately slicked back to control some of the spikiness with some hair product and he was sporting a partly healed bruise of his forehead from falling of the Devil's shed a few weeks prior.

"Don't do anything crazy dad, it's probably just some kids, don't go putting tasers in the mail box or anything like that." Tommy said with an air of amusement.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it Tommy, you alright to get to school" He said, the new idea seeming to calm him down enough for his mind to switch to different subjects.

"Yeah, COME ON DIL!" He shouted back into the house, "Chuckie is taking us over, he's training to take over the Java Lava but he's offered to help with the schools drama and acting stuff so he has to be over there most mornings and after school a few days a week so I won't have to catch the bus too often I suppose." Tommy continued.

"Huh, oh yeah, Chas did mention something about that, man that ki-young man is busy these days, alright well have fun, first day, look after your brother too" He added at the end as Dil emerged from the house holding a piece of paper and his bag. He presented the paper to his dad.

Dil was wearing bring yellow swimming trunks that he was passing off as shorts and an oversized t-shirt, he was still migrating out of his recent hip hop faze but his clothes hadn't caught up to his new obsession over lofi live streams. At this point both Tommy and Dil were several inches taller than their father, Dil would soon be taller than Tommy as well which Tommy was not too happy about.

"Father I have devised a rouse to catch the mail thief!" He smiled proudly as his father looked at the paper that was on closer inspection a blueprint.

"ha! Good to see the old Pickles jean hasn't gone to waste, where were you thinking of hanging the ropes from?" Stu inquired as Chuckie pulled up.

"If we construct a simple structure a few meters above the box and paint them black, the assailants wouldn't be able to see it!" He pointed to different parts of the blueprint as he explained it.

Stu moved his mouth and jaw like he was using mouth wash, clearly thinking it through.

"I'll think about it Dil, I've come up with something myself but we can talk about it some other time, hey there champ!" Stu waved at Chuckie who poked his head out of the car window to talk to stu. Chuckie was driving the definition of a grandma car, it was slow, low to the ground, chalk white and featured a car logo Tommy didn't even recognize, Chuckie had told him the brand many times but it was hard to pronounce, it had been affectionately dubbed, "THE BEAST" by Dil and Phil when Chuckie first showed it off.

"Hey Mr. Pickles, I see they've struck again here too" Chuckie peered at the mailbox.

"Yeah, I suppose you haven't had any problems?"

"We've been all good, the mail man just brings it straight to our door these days anyway."

Stu rubbed his jaw, still thinking.

Chuckie reverse parked his car at the front of school, they clambered out, Tommy having to slide his seat forward to let Dil out as there were only 2 doors.

"I'm a growing boy, how am I supposed to fit my legs in there!" Dil complained as he stretched his legs and shoulders.

Because Chuckie had graduated the year before and was now involved in faculty work, it meant he had to arrive at school an hour before to be involved in the early staff meeting. Dil utilized the new found time by busting out his wheelies that popped out from the heels of his shoes, he rolled through the school halls at blistering speeds as Tommy helped Chuckie prepare for the new term, putting up posters to advertise the drama club and sweeping off the stage and vacuuming the auditorium which hadn't been used all summer so had become very dusty. Chuckie's interest in the drama club had begun in their second year of high school when he discovered that acting was extremely helpful with his insecurities and confidence. He saw the stage as a safe place where he could be anyone. Tommy's newfound interest in the drama club was the possibility for discovering new actors to feature in a film that had been buzzing around his head.

"This good enough?" Tommy called out, Chuckie looked up to see the now vacuumed seating area.

"Yeah that should be good, no one will be sitting there today anyway"

Tommy put the vacuum in its closet before leaning against the stage.

"Kimi didn't want to come along this early I'm guessing?" Tommy inquired.

"She was barely even awake when I left, I'm a bit worried that she might miss the bus"

"She'll be fine, she's got a better attendance ranking than me and Dil combined"

Chuckie chuckled in a happy yet disapproving manner, he had chastised both Tommy and Dil repeatedly for their consistently bad attendance since starting high school.

"How are you feeling though? Big year this one" Chuckie looked up from the practice scripts he was stapling together, with a look of interest, Tommy was taken aback for a moment, neither of them had really talked about this yet.

"Um, yeah, well, I suppose…it is a big year" Tommy replied

"Don't want to scare you or anything but…it is tough at times, especially with how many hobbies you have and how much you do, filming, basketball, this, I just don't want you to get stressed out"

"Yeah, I mean, I am a little worried about it all, all of summer vacation people have been saying similar stuff and…I don't wanna mess this up, its taken so much work to get here and I'm worried I might drop the ball…it doesn't help that…"

"You're a smart dude man, you've got this, you did so well lest year, I've got no worries abo-"

"No, it's not that, it's just…I haven't won a film award…in 3 years"

Chuckie paused.

"My award shelf…its all pre high school stuff, I won everything I put my name into…I know it makes me sound like a bit of a jackass, complaining about not winning an award but…I'm worried that I've lost it. It's all I've ever wanted to do, make films but if I'm washed up after only a few years of doing it, how could I ever make that my career, it's kinda just, thrown some stuff out of wack in my head."

There was a bit of a pause.

"Tommy, listen-" Chuckie was cut off by the loud banging of doors and the sound of footsteps as crowds of students began flooding into the school.

"oh, everyone's arriving…I suppose I should get going, you heading off soon?" Tommy said, looking back up at Chuckie who seemed a little lost for words and a little concerned, he recomposed himself.

"Yeah, my shift starts soon at the Java Lava, I should be back around 2:30 ish for a 3:15 start of the first drama meeting, hopefully we get a good few new people…" He seemed to lose interest in his own sentence as the sound grew louder.

"Okay, sounds good, I'll see you then man" Tommy smiled vaguely and began to head out, he reached the door before chuckie called out.

"Hey Tommy!"

He turned back to see Chuckie standing on the stage looking at him.

"Don't go worrying too much alright, don't go forgetting who you are, you're Tommy Pickles, the bravest man I know" Chuckie grinned at Tommy.

Tommy smiled faintly back.

"Thanks Chuckie…"

He turned around and pushed open the doors, entering into the hustle and bustle of school life. His final year of high school had begun, one last chance to make it count!

And there you have it, the first part of the first episode of this fanfiction, I hope you enjoyed that, please leave a review and let me know what you thought of the story and leave your suggestion for an episode you'd like to see in this last season of Rugrats all grown up, if I like it I'll flesh it out and do a few chapters on it and I'll credit the idea to you! Thanks for reading!

Charlie


End file.
